The present disclosure relates generally to patient monitoring system and, more particularly, to optical patient monitoring systems.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of medicine, doctors routinely desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of systems and devices have been developed for monitoring many of these physiological characteristics. Generally, these patient monitoring systems provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide the best possible healthcare for their patients. Consequently, such monitoring systems have become an indispensable part of modern medicine.
One technique for monitoring certain physiological characteristics of a patient involves emitting light into the tissue of a patient, detecting a portion of the light back from the tissue of the patient, and determining one or more physiological parameters based on the detected light. For example, using different wavelengths of light it is possible to determine the hydration level and/or the oxygen saturation of a patient. Generally, a number of different wavelengths of light may be measured in combination to determine a particular physiological parameter.
In general, the patient sensor may measure the relative contributions of the individual wavelength components of the light detected from the patient's tissue in order for the physiological parameter of the patient to be determined. For example, some patient sensors may employ a spectrometer with a diffraction grating in order to separate the incident light into its various wavelength components and determine the relative contributions of the various wavelengths present. However, spectrometers are relatively costly, sensitive to vibration and alignment issues, and may add considerable bulk to a patient monitoring system.